Australian telecommunications
The Australian telecommunications industry is as diverse and versatile as that of any advanced industrial nation and much more innovative than most. Australia's history and its position mean that it can offer countries in the Asia region high-quality telecommunications systems.
Australia has a network of advanced cities and scattered rural settlements linked by sophisticated telecommunications systems. The telecommunications network reaches 97 percent of homes across a landmass the size of China.
In 1994 to 1995, the telecommunications market was worth US$14 billion and is expected to reach between $22 billion and $24 billion by 2000.
In 1969, Australia became the first country in the world to use satellite systems for domestic phone calls. Australia was a founder member of both the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellite networks and is one of the world's highest users of both.
Today, Australia has the highest mobile phone take-up rate in the world. With at least 1.6 million connected by 1995, Australians are the world's second largest users of mobile phones, and mobile networks can now reach 84 percent of the population. Queensland's Gold Coast has the highest number of mobile phones per head of population than anywhere on earth. One person in seven there has a mobile phone.
Australia's telecommunications business overseas now generates close to $1 billion in export revenue annually, more than half of it within the Asia-Pacific region. The telecommunications equipment export market alone is currently growing at a rate of 40 percent annually.
The Australian government's deregulation of the telecommunications market has meant that there are now three world-class carriers in Australia. The resulting competition has helped encourage a growth in telecommunications exports to the point that the industry expects to export as much as it imports soon after 2000.
Australia is one of the most urbanized societies on earth -- more urbanized than Britain, Germany or the U.S. Some 80 percent of Australians live in cities with populations larger than one million. This is one reason for the industry's high degree of sophistication overall and for the development of such innovations as metropolitan area networks, the technology for which was pioneered in Australia.
Telecommunications equipment for rural use must operate in environments which are often challenging and in which regular maintenance is difficult or impossible. For those reasons, Australian products are designed to be rugged, reliable and able to withstand heat, dust and tropical conditions.
This makes Australia's capabilities particularly relevant to customers in the Asia-Pacific region, many of whom have similar needs for durable low-maintenance telecommunications hardware. Today, Australia's remote area communications skills are recognized as second to none.
Only a few countries worldwide can claim Australia's ability to support communications networks from concept to design and manufacture and on to installation and through-life maintenance.
Australian and major overseas companies have formed a series of joint ventures and collaborative arrangements. Many of these involve exports of Australian manufactures or expertise to markets Australia might otherwise not have reached.
Australian companies are building new telecommunications networks in Indonesia and Vietnam. Australian radio equipment is also sold throughout the Asia-Pacific.
Australian companies place a high priority on forging collaborative ventures with government agencies and private corporations in the region. There has been considerable success and this remains the policy for the future.